On Wednesday our girls’ football team travelled to Didcot to face Ladygrove Park in our second league match of the season. Our season began with a win earlier in the year, and were looking to return to the top of the table with a victory.

Before the game, we spoke about the importance of blocking out the noise made by a raucous home support and making a fast start.

It only took a few minutes to achieve both of these.

The girls pressed well from the start, keeping the opposition in their own half and forcing their goalkeeper into some excellent saves. Eventually, our opening goal came.

And what a goal it was.

A long pass was sent downfield and brought down with a superb touch by Georgie. From there, she made herself a yard of space and fired the ball into the far top corner of the net.

With confidence and desire surging through them, it was not long before the girls doubled our lead. Some lovely play in the middle of the pitch saw Sylvie lay the ball off to Georgie, who threaded a perfect pass through to Freya. Freya turned, picked her spot and rolled the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper and into the bottom corner.

The half then entered a fairly quiet spell and although there were no clear cut chances to mention, the girls kept their discipline and remained defensively sound to maintain our two-goal advantage. This solid platform would provide the foundation for our third goal.

A clearance from our defence was chased down by Georgie, who was beaten to the ball by the keeper. However, the keeper had picked the ball up outside her area, giving us a free kick in a dangerous position. Hazel claimed the ball, stepped up and struck it, via a deflection, into the corner of the net to send us in at half time with a deserved 3-0 lead.

We began the second half in much the same way, and it wasn’t long before we added a fourth goal to our tally. Georgie won the ball from the defender, took a touch, and swept the ball in off of the far post. We almost added more goals to our tally late in the game, with Georgie and Freya both hitting the crossbar, but the game would end in a well-earned 4-0 victory.

Overall, an excellent team performance full of character, desire and enthusiasm that saw us return to the top of the table and keep our destiny in our own hands. If we avoid defeat in our final match of the season, the girls will be able to claim the league title for the very first time!

As usual, a huge thanks to those that transported and supported us on the day.

The team was: Sylvie F, Georgie Q, Bethany B, Freya H, Alejandra M-P, Hazel B-M, Ella W, Olivia Z, Saule B, Issy C and Lili F.